Wrestle Poodles and Win! The Bonzo Dog Band - All Their Albums

 

by Stuart Penney

Despite an almost 60-year fascination with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, I saw them in concert only once. The date was October 29, 1967, barely a week after their debut album Gorilla was released. The venue was Brian Epstein's Saville Theatre down at the unfashionable end of Shaftesbury Avenue. 

Together with soul / mod cult favourites The Action, the Bonzos were part of an oddly mismatched bill supporting Cream, who were then possibly the world's biggest live band. The compere was, as ever, John Peel and the tickets cost between 7s/6d (37½p) and one whole pound. Did I also mention it was a rainy Sunday night in Soho?

With no fewer than five (count 'em!) full-size 100w double Marshall stacks dominating their backline, Cream delivered a punishingly loud set of magnificent heavy blues rock. They had recently returned from a triumphant US tour, and the trio were clearly reinvigorated and firing on all cylinders. To paraphrase the great George Clinton and Parliament, Eric, Jack and Ginger absolutely tore the roof off the sucker. 

As for the Bonzos, the 1400-seat Saville was perhaps a little too big to present their wild and crazy antics to best advantage. Their anarchic stage act, involving miscellaneous props, dolls, explosions, hand-held speech bubbles and musical instruments of every description, was probably best experienced close-up and personal in an intimate club setting or student union hall. Nevertheless, it was a captivating show, the like of which I'd never seen. There was musical order amid the Bonzos' comedic chaos and I'm proud (if not a little smug) to say I witnessed this early performance by one of the most beloved and legendary British bands of the late 60s. 

A glowing Melody Maker review (credited to Nick Jones and Chris Welch) said this: "The Bonzos proved a wild success before a predominately Cream audience. From an uncertain start as the fans got to grips with the heady mixture of satire, vaudeville and musical anarchy, they concluded a superb performance to cheers, applause and three curtain calls. 

"Legs Larry Smith caused a sensation by picking up a member of the audience who shouted "Rubbish! - Get off!" from a box and hurling him onto the stage. The crowd gasped, then roared as the "heckler" broke into pieces and proved to be a clever fake.

"The jokes were endless, exhausting and impossible to describe. All hail to Vivian Stanshall, Sam Spoons, Rodney Slater, Roger Ruskin Spear, Neil Innes and Vernon Dudley Bowhay-Nowell. Gentlemen, you are the toast of all London."

Just a few days later I went out and bought a mono copy of Gorilla and was gratified to find the entire album was just as joyous as the Saville concert had been. From that moment I was hooked and anticipated each new Bonzos' release with an eagerness previously reserved only for the likes of Dylan, the Stones or the Beatles. Yes, they were that good.

They were arguably the closest thing we had to Frank Zappa and the Mothers. But while Zappa was unfailingly cynical, sneering and often downright nasty (in the most entertaining way possible, of course), the Bonzos were quintessentially English - loveable, eccentric and foppish, yet always hilarious with a satirical edge. Although existing gloriously outside the orthodoxy of mainstream rock, they were all fine musicians and while the line-up frequently changed, the heart and soul of the band was always Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes who appeared on every album and between them wrote most of the original songs.

They gave us five good-to-brilliant albums, plus a few worthwhile compilations and oddball singles before breaking up (for the second time) and going their separate ways in 1974. There was a brief reunion in 1988, and we’ve seen solo projects galore, mostly from Neil and Viv, some of which were wildly successful (The Rutles and Tubular Bells), others not so much (Teddy Boys Don't Knit). But big sellers or not, all the post-split records contained something of interest. 

In 2006 there was another reunion of sorts with various celebs from the comedy world standing in for Viv (who died in 1995). But there could only ever be one Vivian Stanshall and, respectful though the reunifications were, they just didn't have the same magic. 

After decades of CD reissues and repackages, late 2024 saw the career defining 20-disc / 350-track box set Still Barking. Containing all the albums (mono and stereo where applicable), singles, demos, BBC sessions and much more, it was surely the ultimate collection of their work and the last word on all things Bonzo Dog Band related. 

Here, in vague release order, is an overview of those original albums, including some essential compilations from the early 70s.

The Alberts, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, The Temperance Seven 

Starline SRS 5151 (1973)

Yes, that really was the somewhat unimaginative title of this album issued on EMI's budget Starline label. There are only four Bonzos tracks here – the A & B sides of their long-deleted 1966 Parlophone singles – but for many years this was the only place they could be found.

Recorded at Abbey Road studios at the same time as the Beatles were working on Revolver just along the corridor, this close encounter with the Fabs galvanised the group (and Neil Innes in particular) into moving away from the vintage 20s and 30s novelty jazz oldies which had been the cornerstone of their repertoire and start writing their own more contemporary material.

My Brother Makes the Noises for the Talkies / I’m Gonna Bring A Watermelon To My Gal Tonight (Parlophone R5430)

Alley Oop / Button Up Your Overcoat (Parlophone R5499)

In 1973 after the Bonzos had split, EMI reissued the four songs on this mid-price compilation, together with tracks by The Alberts and The Temperance Seven. 

“My Brother Makes the Noises for the Talkies” is perhaps the strongest of the four cuts here. There are many versions of this song, but the 1931 recording by Albert Whelan is closest to the Bonzos’ record, sound effects and all. This is typical of the pre-war jazz / music hall / vaudeville material they were playing in the early years, much of it unearthed on old 78rpm singles bought for pennies at flea markets.

Loaded with low key innuendo, “I’m Gonna Bring a Watermelon to My Gal Tonight” was somewhat risqué when it first appeared in 1924. The original by US novelty duo Billy Jones and Ernest Hare contained an introduction plus some verses not heard on the Bonzos’ recording, who seemingly based their version on a record (also from 1924) by UK outfit the Savoy Havana Band. It was here they heard the immortal line “Tonight I’m gonna bring a rope and she can hang herself.”

“Alley Oop” had been a 1960 US #1 novelty hit for the Hollywood Argyles (#24 in the UK) and was later covered by the Beach Boys and others. The song was written in 1957 by Dallas Frazier whose name was misspelled "Fozier" on the Parlophone label credit (right). White label promos showed the song title spelled French style as "Allez Oop" while stock copies corrected this. In his 1971 Hunky Dory track “Life on Mars?” David Bowie quoted from the original song with the line “Look at those cavemen go.”

Written by the formidable songwriting team of Ray Henderson, Buddy DeSylva & Lew Brown, “Button Up Your Overcoat” dates from the prohibition era when it was recorded by Ruth Etting in 1928. The following year it was a huge hit for Helen Kane, who was thought to be the inspiration for the cartoon character Betty Boop with her “Boop boop a doop” catchphrase.

In later years these four recordings turned up on the Bonzos' 1992 Cornology 3 CD box set collection (along with solo cuts from Viv, Neil and Roger) and were later added to the 2007 Gorilla CD reissue as bonus tracks.

In 2007 the 27-track CD Songs the Bonzo Dog Band Taught Us - A Pre-History of the Bonzos (Lightning Tree LIGHT FLASH CD 007) appeared. It contained original 1920s and 30s versions of songs recorded (or covered live) by the Bonzos, including some tackled by Roger Ruskin Spear on his solo albums. Here are early recordings of "Jollity Farm," "Mickey's Son and Daughter," "I'm Gonna Bring a Watermelon to My Gal Tonight," "Hunting Tigers Out in Indiah (Yah)" and many more pre-war gems.

The Alberts, by the way, included among their number a certain Bruce Lacey, inventor and performance artist. Fairport Convention incorporated his robots as sound effects on their 1968 album What We Did On Our Holidays, specifically on the track "Mr. Lacey." He also appeared as George Harrison's flute playing gardener in the Beatles' film Help! 

Gorilla

Liberty LBL 83056 (mono) / Liberty LBS 83056 (stereo), (October 1967)

Arriving two months before their career-boosting appearance in Magical Mystery Tour, where they performed “Death Cab for Cutie,” Gorilla immediately established the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as the critics’ darlings and a much-loved draw on the underground club and college circuit.

Their profile was further increased in 1968 when they became the resident band on Thames TV’s Do Not Adjust Your Set (a teatime kids' show also watched by adults in the know) alongside future Monty Python members Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry Gillian.

There are delights aplenty here, including “Equestrian Statue” (their first Liberty single), “I’m Bored,” “Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold,” and “Jollity Farm.”

It’s all tremendous stuff, but the chucklesome “The Intro and the Outro,” surely the most quoted song in the entire Bonzos’ catalogue, outshines all else.

Producer Gerry Bron (who also managed the Bonzos) was the elder brother of actress Eleanor Bron who appeared alongside the Beatles in Help! Gerry was part of the famous Bron’s music publishing dynasty, and he went on to launch the Bronze record label, signing Uriah Heep, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Colosseum etc.

In the late 1990s “Death Cab For Cutie” was adopted as the name of a US band fronted by Ben Gibbard. 

The title (if not the song) “Cool Britannia” was picked up again to reflect all that was good about Britain and Britpop during the Blair era of the 90s. 

Record Collecting Notes:

Original LPs came with a 12-page booklet insert.

Gorilla was reissued in November 1970 on Liberty’s budget Sunset label with a yellow sleeve (showing the now shorter band name, minus the "Doo-Dah"), then again in 1980 on United Artists’ Pop File series, this time with a black sleeve.

The US version omitted the track “Big Shot.”

The 2007 CD contained seven bonus tracks

Obscure Reference: the line “This is boredom you can afford from Cyril Bored” in “I’m Bored” references a popular 60s TV ad theme song for the Lancashire carpet manufacturer Cyril Lord.

Most quotable lyric: “And, looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on Vibes. Niiice!” (from “The Intro and the Outro.”) or “Hey, you have the same trouble with your trousers as I do” (from “Narcissus”)

Highlight: “The Intro and the Outro”

The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse

Liberty LBL 83158E (mono) / Liberty LBS 83158E (stereo) (December 1968)

The name now shortened to the Bonzo Dog Band (on the sleeve, if not the labels), the second album saw a departure from their vaudeville and jazz roots into full blown rock and psychedelia, albeit with plenty of darkly surreal comedy. 

All tracks were written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall this time and the “Granny’s Greenhouse” title sprang from a Michael Palin joke referring to an outside privy. I’ll leave the "doughnut" part to your imagination. The Rutles may have been some years in the future, but “Hello Mabel” sounded like it could have come directly from the pen of Paul McCartney around the time of “Your Mother Should Know.”

This and the follow-up album Tadpoles were produced by the esteemed Gus Dudgeon who worked with virtually every British artist of note in the late 60s and 70s including Elton John and David Bowie. Gus also engineered everyone’s favourite electric blues record, the 1966 Mayall / Clapton “Beano Album” so he’s forever OK in my book.

Speaking of which, the British Blues Boom was in full flower during 1968 and the Bonzos lampooned it in fine style with “Can Blue Men Sing the Whites.” Other highlights include “We Are Normal,” “Rhinocratic Oaths,” “The Trouser Press” and the brilliant ode to suburbia “My Pink Half of the Drainpipe.”

Under the pseudonym Apollo C. Vermouth, Paul McCartney produced “I’m the Urban Spaceman” which became the Bonzos' only hit single in October 1968. It was left off the UK album but was the opening track on the US version, which was re-titled Urban Spaceman, released in June 1969 (it was also issued on CD under that title in America).

Record Collecting Notes:

Original LPs came with a 12-page booklet insert.

It was reissued in March 1971 on Liberty’s budget Sunset label with a new sleeve (textured or glossy) and again in 1987 on the Edsel label.

Some US copies have a label misprint showing “Humanoid Boogie” as “Humanoid Googie.” 

Doughnut scraped into the UK album charts at #40 in January 1969.

The 2007 UK CD contained five bonus tracks

Obscure Reference: A few bars of “Just an Ordinary Copper” aka the Dixon of Dock Green TV theme can be heard at the start of “Rockaliser Baby.”

Most quotable lyric: “We are normal and we dig Bert Weedon.”

Highlight: “My Pink Half of the Drainpipe.”

Tadpoles

Liberty LBS 83257 (August 1969)

Tackle the toons you tapped your tootsies to on Thames TV’s “Do Not Adjust Your Set” reads the alliterative sub-heading on the front cover. And, sure enough, the third album is largely a compilation of the Bonzos’ work from said TV show on which they were the house band between December 1967 and May 1969.

While their previous album, Doughnut, consisted of entirely self-penned material, no fewer than five tracks on Tadpoles were remakes of 20s and 30s jazz / vaudeville tunes, plus an undistinguished cover of Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s 1962 hit “Monster Mash.” The older songs -- “Hunting Tigers Out In Indiah,” “By A Waterfall,” “Ali Baba’s Camel,” “Dr. Jazz” -- were uniformly excellent, however. The original material was also top notch, of course, especially the doo wop spoof “Canyons of Your Mind” (with its spectacularly egregious guitar solo) and Roger Ruskin Spear’s “Shirt” complete with chucklesome (and genuine) street interviews conducted by Viv in Willesden Green.

Record Collecting Notes:

Tadpoles reached #36 in the UK album charts in August 1969 to become the Bonzos' highest placing. 

For the first time no mono option was offered, this was released in stereo only.

The UK and US versions had slightly different track listings. Their hit single “I’m the Urban Spaceman” was included on UK pressings, but since it had already appeared on the second US album (conveniently retitled Urban Spaceman), it was replaced with “Readymades” the B-side of their follow-up single “Mr. Apollo.”

In September 1973 the UK version of Tadpoles was reissued on the budget Sunset label with a new sleeve, re-titled I’m the Urban Spaceman.

In 2007 the album appeared on CD with five bonus tracks.

The original LP sleeve had seven holes cut in the front cover located on Viv’s glasses, Larry’s eyes and Neil’s forehead. The insert card (or inner sleeve of the US version) featured multiple random images and this could be moved in and out to change the trio’s appearance.

Most quotable lyric: “The sweet essence of giraffe” (from “Canyons of Your Mind”)

Highlight: “Canyons of Your Mind”

Keynsham

Liberty LBS 83290 (December 1969)

“Horace Batchelor, Department One, Keynsham, spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M, Keynsham, Bristol.”

Listeners to Radio Luxembourg in the late 50s and 60s were all too familiar with a certain Horace Batchelor and his "Famous Infra-Draw Method for the Treble Chance" advertisements. Punters were invited to write in for this supposedly sure-fire method of how to win on the football pools. Horace himself would painstakingly read out the address in his doleful voice. 

Those ads (and Horace himself) became something of a running joke, much impersonated among younger pop fans and, with perfect timing, the Bonzos named their fourth album Keynsham in honour of the Bristol suburb where Batchelor’s company was based. Believe me, in the late 60s this was hilarious, and we were all in on the joke.

Fittingly, the first voice we hear on the album is Horace himself intoning “I have personally won over…” at the start of the opening track “You Done My Brain In.” Then, at 0:46 secs on the same track there’s a snatch of “In Party Mood” (aka the theme from BBC radio's “Housewives Choice”) can be heard. Horace was also name-checked on the Gorilla track “The Intro and the Outro” with the line “What a team, Zebra Kid and Horace Batchelor on percussion.”

Record Collecting Notes:

Original LPs arrived in an elaborate textured gatefold sleeve with a silver foil panel glued on the front. Designed by Viv Stanshall, of course.

It was reissued in November 1975 on Liberty’s budget Sunset label and again in 1987 on the Edsel label in a quite bizarre and very different gatefold sleeve (see left).

2007 CDs contained five bonus tracks taken from solo recordings by Viv Stanshall, Neil Innes and Roger Ruskin Spear.

Most quotable lyric: “That boozy English day at the Brighton Racecourses (The wind blew my skirt up and it frightened the horses”) (from “We Were Wrong”).

Obscure Reference: Johnny Morris (1916 – 1999) the presenter of 60s / 70s anthropomorphically inclined BBC TV programmes Animal Magic and Tales of the Riverbank is namechecked in the track “Mr Slaters’ Parrot”

Highlight: "Sport (The Odd Boy)"

Let’s Make Up and Be Friendly

United Artists UAS 29288, March 1972

They may have disbanded in 1970, but the Bonzos found themselves back together in late 1971 to record this somewhat patchy contractual obligation album. It was a case of close, but no (exploding) cigar for what proved to be their swan song.

Of the original line-up, only Viv and Neil were present, plus Denis Cowan on bass and Rodney Slater (“in spirit”). The redoubtable Bubs White played lead guitar, while big names from the rock world - Andy Roberts (fiddle, mandolin, guitar), Tony Kaye (keys), Hughie Flint (drums) and Dick Parry (sax) – comprised the main band. Veterans Roger Ruskin Spear and “Legs” Larry Smith were featured here and there, but mostly on the older bonus CD tracks.

Showcasing a more contemporary rock sound than the earlier albums, there’s still plenty of Bonzos’ humour on offer here, notably the scatological opener “The Strain,” “King of Scurf” and the first appearance on record of Viv’s brilliant monologue “Rawlinson End.”

“Legs” Larry co-wrote “Rusty (Champion Thrust)” with ex-Yes keyboard man Tony Kaye.

Original pressings had a stick-on Bonzo the Dog postcard featuring the eponymous cartoon puppy from the 1920s from where they took their name.

Record Collecting Notes:

It was reissued in May 1978 on the budget Sunset label with a new black sleeve.

The 2007 CD reissue featured six bonus tracks.

Most quotable lyric: “Randy has turned in on himself – no mean feat for a 40-stone man” (from “Rawlinson End”)

Highlight: “Rawlinson End”

The Best of the Bonzos

Liberty LBS 83332, August 1970

The first Bonzos’ compilation. Containing 16 tracks drawn from their first four albums, this is arguably the best overview of their early work. OK, the sleeve design wasn’t great; the label and sleeve disagreed over the album title (The Best of the Bonzo’s versus The Best of Bonzo) and let’s not even mention that glaring rogue apostrophe on the front cover (Bonzo’s).

Apart from a 1980 reissue of Gorilla, this was the final Bonzo Dog LP released on the Liberty label. Liberty was folded into parent company United Artists in 1971, after which the label disappeared completely until 1980 when UA was taken over by EMI. Liberty then re-appeared as a mainly budget reissue label.

Highlight: “I’m The Urban Spaceman”

Beast Of the Bonzos

United Artists UAS-5517, July 1971

"Bonzoes"?

Despite a decent enough track listing (15 tracks drawn from the first four LPs), this US-only compilation fell at the first hurdle, misspelling the album title Beast of the Bonzoes on both labels. Then there’s the rather strange gatefold cover design by esteemed artist John Van Hamersveld. 

Even if you don’t know the name, I guarantee you’ve seen his work on sleeves by Jefferson Airplane, Blue Cheer, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, The Beatles (Magical Mystery Tour US version) and countless others. The significance of a cartoon fire hydrant was not explained, however. Somewhere for the Bonzo Dog to cock its leg, perhaps?

Highlights: all of it, but especially “Canyons of Your Mind” and "The Intro and the Outro."

The History of the Bonzos

United Artists UAD-60071, April 1974

30 tracks taken from all five original albums, plus five solo oddities by Viv, Neil and Roger (but mostly Viv) make this by far the most comprehensive and desirable Bonzos’ collection of the pre-digital age.

The magnificent double set arrived in a beautiful textured sleeve designed to look like an ancient hardback tome with a six-page insert of photos and press cuttings taken from Viv and Roger’s personal collections.

For reasons unknown, the US version of this album (UA LA321—H2) swapped out “Shirt” (from Tadpoles) for “Straight from My Heart” (from Let’s Make Up & Be Friendly.)

One of the most interesting, rare cuts was “Labio Dental Fricative" by Viv’s Sean Head Showband. Recorded in 1970 and featuring a sterling performance by Eric Clapton on guitar (not ukelele) it's one of the great lost Bonzos' solo tracks.

Record Collecting Notes:

This reached #41 in the UK charts in June 1974.

Highlights: Every damn track, but especially “Labio Dental Fricative"

Cornology 3-CD Box Set 1992